When to harvest calabrese?

[monkeyboy]

This is how far it's grown:



It's about 4-5 inches in diameter. Leave it for a few weeks longer?

[Thelma Sanders]

If you leave it any longer the little green flower buds will begin to open, so I'd eat it now before they do. Once the main head has been cut off, the plants usually produce some smaller heads for a later harvest.

[Greenleaves]

As Thelma says...harvest it now. The whole head is a mass of tiny flowers waiting to burst open.

[Penellype]

You can usually tell when a calabrese head is going too far because it starts to look looser and takes on a yellowish tinge. Yours looks on the brink of doing that, so as others have said, it is ready now.

[Aberdeenplotter]

^^^^^^^^^wot she said

[monkeyboy]

After fretting all night and all day that flowers were going to pop up overnight and render it inedible, I went out after work and harvested the broccoli:

[Thelma Sanders]

That's a good harvest

[Greenleaves]

Very nice...will taste sublime

[Aberdeenplotter]

looks gorgeous

[Potstubsdustbins]

Now keep your fingers crossed and with a bit of luck you will get 3 or 4 florets growing between the large leafs and the main stem more or less the equivalent of another head.

[monkeyboy]

Now keep your fingers crossed and with a bit of luck you will get 3 or 4 florets growing between the large leafs and the main stem more or less the equivalent of another head.

I had a look today. Already growing!

[Snoop Puss]

Home-grown broccoli is fantastic. Hope you enjoyed it.

[jackarmy]

Once the extra mini harvest has been harvested, is that the final crop ?, is the plant finished then ?. My first time at calabrese.

[Penellype]

I keep mine going over winter and usually get some small heads in spring. They get smaller and smaller and bolt quicker until they are not worth continuing with in around May or June. Last winter I was astonished that the plants (variety Sakura) survived the cold.

[monkeyboy]

I keep mine going over winter and usually get some small heads in spring. They get smaller and smaller and bolt quicker until they are not worth continuing with in around May or June. Last winter I was astonished that the plants (variety Sakura) survived the cold.

Stupid question, but is it worth trimming the leaves to allow more sunlight to other nearby plants?